and baby makes four
by xCaligula
Summary: AU. Laurie, Dan, and Walter have been in a relationship for a while when Laurie discovers that she is pregnant and the three begin to prepare for the extension of their family. Meanwhile, Eddie wants to be a part of his grandchild's life and Sally agrees to try to help him and Laurie grow closer, but the two soon find that what was between them in the past is not completely gone.
1. Chapter 1

Their relationship was unconventional, and they all were well-aware of that fact. Not a one of them would have ever expected to end up in such an arrangement, and they had all had their doubts and questions when it had begun, but they hadn't had any other option. The three of them had been in love, and no matter how it had happened and how strange it was, they made it work.

It had all begun with Dan, of course. Walter and Laurie might have never met had it not been for him, and certainly wouldn't have considered being friends, much less lovers. He had known both of them for years, from different places, and they had both fallen for him and his kindness. When they had been introduced, both had assumed that Dan was in love with the other and hadn't made a move.

Eventually, things only grew more complicated when they both caught themselves caring for one another, and then they discovered that neither of them had been wrong: Dan was in love with both of them and hadn't known what to do about it. But then Walter grew to care for Laurie and Laurie grew to care for Walter, and with all of their feelings out in the open, the solution was obvious.

It was scary at first, deciding to try this relationship out, and it had been uncomfortable on more than one occasion, but along the line, their strengths in the relationship overcame their weaknesses- they all loved each other fiercely and were loyal and devoted and there was no jealousy within. It was a rough start, but they had more than managed to make things work.

As with most relationships, there was intimacy, and somehow that had almost been easier. Letting all inhibitions go and giving in to passion was easier than trying to figure out their feelings and how they fit into the world around them. But with that degree of intimacy, there was bound to come a day when their family would grow.

"I'm pregnant," said Laurie bluntly, because she said many things bluntly. She had never been the type to knit a tiny sweater and pass it around as a hint or make some joke about having a 'bun in the oven', and actually hiding a bun in their oven just to drive the point home.

Perhaps she could have said something to lead up to it to prepare her lovers for the news, but she didn't really think about that. And once her announcement was made, both Dan and Walter were speechless, staring at her as if they were waiting for her to say something else.

Dan was the first to regain his composure. "I...wow, Laurie, that's, uh, that's...wonderful!" A large smile spread across his face, already making him look every inch the proud father.

"It is," agreed Walter. He was always soft spoken, even in times of great excitement, and now was no exception, though he did give just the slightest hint of a smile at the idea.

"How long have you known?" asked Dan.

"Not long," she replied. "I took a few home tests while you guys were out, and they kept coming up positive, so I went to the doctor today. I'm only a few weeks along, but I'm most definitely pregnant."

There was no discussion of what to do about this, though Laurie had wondered if there would be. The three of them had never talked about having a family or even if they ever intended to have children, and there had been a part of her that had wondered if they would even want her to keep it. She had not let herself get attached to her unborn child, because she was not sure what she wanted for herself and she was not sure what Dan or Walter would want.

But now both of them were overjoyed and for the first time, she allowed herself to be overjoyed as well. Of course this was what she wanted; her chance at a full, happy family and a home life full of love, not only for them men she loved but for a child of her very own. This was what she wanted, and she realized that she couldn't have been happier.

Then Walter asked a question that had been on the back of her mind from the beginning, and that had been overshadowed by her question of what might happen. "Who do you think the father is?"

"Well, I don't know, obviously," she replied with an eye roll, her sarcasm hiding her own concern.

"Just curious," he said. "Thought you might have a feeling about it. It doesn't matter."

"That's right," said Dan with an easy and gentle smile. "We're all in this together and we're all going to be raising the baby. I'm their father and you're their father and Laurie's their mother. No matter whose it is genetically, the baby is all of ours."

That was true and Laurie knew it and accepted it, but when she had a chance to be alone, she still let herself wonder. This wasn't a typical family setup, and children grew up knowing who their mother and father were, picking out features that they shared with each. Having a third parent in the mix and never addressing the genetic father's status wasn't something she had ever seen herself doing with a child, and she really wondered whose the baby might be.

Dan or Walter? Dan's dark hair or Walter's red hair? Or perhaps her dark hair, perhaps the baby would look the most like her, and then there wouldn't be a way to figure things out from looks. Maybe she was thinking too hard on this, because the more she thought the less she could imagine. It dawned on her then that she was really trying to decide who she wanted to be the genetic father, and the reason she could not decide on her preferred features was because she did not have a preference.

Whether it was Dan or Walter, she would be just as happy, because she was with both of them. She was over thinking things because of the newness of the situation, but there was really nothing more to think about. It would be better to approach this simply, just as Dan had. Besides, wouldn't it be better for a child to be raised knowing two fathers from the beginning and never needing to know which one was 'really' theirs rather than what had happened with Laurie?

Her mother was married up until Laurie was seven years old, and her marriage was not a happy one. The man she was raised to believe was her father was angry and liked to take his anger out by yelling at Laurie and her mother, and it was not until they were divorced that Laurie began to recall some of the arguments she had overheard and put two and two together. She soon made the discovery that her mother must not have been faithful and that Laurie was not the man's daughter at all. There was someone else out there who was her father, someone that she didn't know.

When she found out about Eddie Blake, she hadn't even considered him as a possible candidate. Her mother had several friends who all could have been her father, and none of them had nice things to say about Eddie. From what she overheard, he had not been a very good person and had made a lot of questionable decisions. She was never clear on the details as a child, but she figured that he must have done something terrible to her mother.

Growing up not knowing who her father was and pretending to be clueless got to be too much for her and one day, she snapped, demanding that her mother tell her the truth. Her mother got a sad look in her eye then and told her the story of what had happened with Eddie that had made her friends hate him so much, but then she told Laurie more of the story, the full story.

He had made mistakes, yes, but there had been something between them before that, and when they ran into each other years later, it was still there. She said she wasn't sure why it was; maybe because she was so miserable in her marriage and was looking for something to take her mind off of things. Either way, things had heated up between them until they were found out and had to stop seeing each other, and by then, she was already pregnant.

Laurie had not been enthusiastic about meeting Eddie, but he had apparently known all along that she was his daughter and had wanted a chance to meet her for years. Despite all the bad things she had heard about him, he seemed to genuinely care for the daughter he had never had, and she had to remind herself that he was a bad person and that she did not like him. They saw each other a few times after that, but she had refused to warm up to him.

Thinking about her childhood and her mother, Laurie realized that she would be the next person who would need to hear the news and so she picked up the phone and dialed her number.

~X~

"Mom, I'm pregnant."

Sally could have dropped the phone when she heard that shocking bit of news, but she had always been one to drop bombs just as casually as that and she managed to keep herself under control. "Is that right?" she asked. "One of those boys turned out to be man enough?"

She made comments like that sometimes, implying that neither were fully men both because Laurie needed both of them to be in a happy relationship and because they were attracted to one another. When Laurie had confessed the nature of her relationship, Sally had been more than a little surprised and incredibly confused as to what good could possibly come from them all trying to share each other. It was hard for her to understand what was going on between them and was just not something she was used to.

Still, she knew she wasn't one to judge, not with the confusion she had put Laurie through growing up, not with the promiscuous nature she had flaunted when she was younger. In the end, she gave her approval, saying that she was at least proud that her daughter managed to bag not one, but two cuties.

This news, however, was news that she understood, news that she could be happy about. When she had found out that she was pregnant with Laurie, she had been scared and uncertain, given her strained marriage and her affair with Eddie, but even then there was a part of her that was excited at the prospect of having a child and she had never once regretted her decision to keep the baby. She understood what this meant and she was excited. For once, she didn't even care that she was being given another sign that she was getting old; she was honestly happy that she was going to be a grandmother.

"Really, that's great news," she said, before Laurie could get angry at the remark she had made. "Have you told them yet?"

"Of course I have, they were the first to know," her daughter replied. "But I figured you should be the second."

"You know, I think..." She paused, knowing Laurie wasn't going to like what she said next. "I think that Eddie would like to know about this too."

Laurie gave a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, I know, I thought about that too, but I don't wanna have to talk to him."

"It's his grandchild too, Laurie."

"I know, I know! Doesn't mean I like it," she muttered. "If you wanna tell him, you can, but I'm not going to be calling him up any time soon."

They hung up not long after that, and Sally did not hesitate before dialing Eddie's number. She hadn't talked to him much since Laurie had grown up and moved out, and she hadn't seen him in person since the last time she had tried to get him and Laurie to get along. Being with him after all that had happened was strange and, more often than not, she found herself feeling guilty when she was with him. She had chosen a husband she didn't love over the father of her child, and she did not know how Eddie felt about all of that. Surely, he must hate her for it.

He answered after only a few rings and when she said who it was, he replied, "'Course it's Sally, ya think I don't recognize your voice after all these years?" He chuckled in the easygoing manner she remembered from their youth.

"I'm calling with news about Laurie," she replied. He knew about the strange relationship as well, and likely had felt just as odd about it as she did, but had never said anything. Probably didn't think he had any right to, given the fact that he had had no hand in raising her.

"Yeah? Good news, or...?"

"It's good news, really good news." Suddenly, she found herself choked up and hadn't realized just how sentimental all of this was making her. "Eddie, our daughter, she...she's going to have a baby."

A silence followed and she could hear him taking in a deep breath before he spoke. "Really?" he asked. "I mean, she really is? You're not messin' with me, are ya?"

"I'm not, it's true! She just called me with the news. We're going to be grandparents."

"Well, I'll be damned..." Sally hadn't heard Eddie sound this happen in a long time, and realized that he must have a sentimental side himself. "Little Laurie's having a baby." He paused before asking, "Did she want ya to tell me?"

"She...was reluctant, but she said I could. I think she knows that you have the right to know about it," said Sally.

He sighed, and for a moment, she felt bad for him and wished that there was some way she could change things so that Laurie would not resent him so much. As if he had read her mind, he said, "Listen, I really wanna be a part of the baby's life. I mean, my own grandchild, I just...do ya think you could talk to her? I know you've tried, we've both tried, but...this is different. Can you help me try to get her to like me a little more?"

"Yes," she replied, "I'll do what I can." She knew that she had her work cut out for her, but Laurie hadn't had the best childhood thanks to her and the family situation she had put her in. Sally wanted this baby to have something better than that, and hoped that mending fences between Eddie and her daughter would help matters.


	2. Chapter 2

"I absolutely fucking hate this," Laurie groaned, not for the first time. "I'd really, really like to be able to eat _something_ and keep it down. You know? I think that'd be a nice change of pace."

Dan made a sympathetic noise, shaking his head. There wasn't much he could do for her, but he knew that she was having a rough time. They were awoken each morning to the sound of her vomiting, and though she always had an appetite and was always enthusiastic to eat some weird something or other, keeping it down was another matter entirely.

She was well into her first trimester, and things were going great for her, aside from the side effects getting to her. The baby was growing at a healthy rate and everything seemed to be normal. The doctor was thrown by the nature of their relationship but didn't make much comment, and there were no health concerns whatsoever.

He and Walter were doing their best to adjust to the situation, doing what they could for Laurie when they could and putting up with how much crabbier she was than usual. Whether it was the hormones or just her irritation at throwing up all the goddamn time, they couldn't tell yet.

~X~

"When does it get better for her?" Walter asked him later on. Laurie was asleep, finding that she needed a lot more rest than she had before, and the two talked quietly while she napped.

"Usually this part doesn't last for too long. Eventually, she should be over the sickness part of things," Dan replied. "And that's when the real fun starts. Once the baby is bigger and we know more about him or her and can start planning and getting their room ready."

He nodded, not making eye contact. "It's difficult," he said. "Things are going too fast."

"Do you think so? Sometimes I think that," said Dan, " other times I think it's not going fast enough. I'm so excited to meet our baby that sometimes I'm not sure how I'll manage to wait."

"Too nervous," Walter replied. "I know, with both of you, things won't be as difficult, but...I worry."

"What do you have to worry about?"

"Being a good parent." His face darkened a bit; Dan and Laurie knew a little bit, but they did not know all of the details. They knew, at least, that Walter had not had the best upbringing, and it made sense that he would be concerned about raising his own child better than he had been raised.

"You will be," Dan argued. "There's absolutely nothing for you to worry about. I know you and Laurie knows you, and neither one of us doubt that you'll be the best father you can be. You know that we wouldn't all want to have a child together if any of us weren't good for it."

"It's hard not to be nervous."

"I'm nervous as hell," he confessed, "and I know it's hard not to be. You still can be. I'm sure even Laurie gets like that a lot, but in the end, we gotta remember that all of us are in this together. We've all got something we're afraid of doing wrong, but it's our experiences that gave us those fears that are gonna end up making us better parents. You know?"

Walter nodded and didn't say anything else, and Dan knew that he was at least feeling a little better if he wasn't arguing. It was when he was comfortable that he tended to go quiet like this, whereas when he had a problem, he tried to make it known, at least to them. He was likely still worried, but Dan hoped that his words had managed to give Walter some temporary comfort and that he would feel just a little bit better about their child.

~X~

To say that she was displeased would be an understatement. Laurie was absolutely furious that her mother was trying this, and had made that known several times, but Sally had told her over and over again that she needed to at least give this a try. He had already missed on seeing his daughter grow up; the least she could do was let him get to see his grandchild.

"If that means I have to be his friend or whatever, then I'm not interested," she had argued.

"Well, there's more to life than what you want, sugar," her mother had replied.

It had taken a lot more convincing from Sally, and some advice from Dan- who agreed that, while Eddie wasn't the best man in his past, he clearly wanted to make up for that and should be given the chance- but Laurie finally agreed to spend some time with him and try to get to know him better. She wasn't sure how she felt about him getting to see her baby, but she couldn't help but agree that maybe even someone like him deserved a chance.

The three of them had met up a few times for lunch, but no progress had really been made. It had always ended up being long stretches of silence while Laurie wouldn't make eye contact and Eddie would try to break the ice with bad jokes that Sally would laugh all too hard at. Eventually, the food would be eaten and the bill would be paid and there would be no more reason for them to try to force it, and Laurie would go home, no closer to her father than before.

So she was a little irritated, to say the least, that Sally was still trying to keep this up. It was clearly a lost cause and she had better things to do than sit through awkward meals with a man she hardly knew and had never thought much of, just because her mother wanted to feel better about her failed relationship.

"How are things at home?" Eddie asked her, as if small talk would do any good. He had yet to say anything judgmental about her odd living situation, which she supposed she could appreciate, but she was always waiting for him to slip up and do just that.

"Same as always," she replied vaguely, shrugging, and then they fell into the silence that had become too familiar. She let her eyes wander over the other people in the restaurant, preferring to pay attention to anything other than her own table, and that was when she saw a man tripping over absolutely nothing. The floor was, as far as she could tell, empty and smooth, and his shoes didn't even have laces, but he nearly face-planted and before she could stop herself, she was laughing.

"Did you _see_ that?" Eddie asked, and she realized that he had been looking in the same direction as her and that he was laughing too. And she wanted to stop laughing, she really did, but instead she only laughed harder.

"Yeah, I did," she barely managed to say through her fit of giggles. "Just walking along and then-"

"Timber!"

And then she was laughing so hard that she could not breathe and her stomach hurt, and she gripped the edge of the table for support while he beat a fist against his thigh. The two of them were in hysterics while Sally just watched them, chuckling to herself, not because she was particularly amused by the situation- though she had let out a sharp, rude laugh when she first saw it happen- but because the two of them finally seemed to be getting on, whether Laurie realized it- or wanted it- or not.

When Laurie managed to regain her composure, she wiped tears from her eyes and looked up, smile fading quickly. She had lost herself in the humor of the situation and forgotten that she was laughing right alongside the man she was bound and determined to despise. She had let her guard down for too long and she reminded herself that having a thing or two in common did not excuse anything.

For the rest of the meal, she had to fight back laughter whenever she happened to remember the tripping man, and when she accidentally caught Eddie's eye and he mouthed 'timber', she did laugh, just a little bit. Neither of them noticed Sally grinning like an idiot the entire time.


	3. Chapter 3

"She's starting to warm up to you, you know," said Sally after Laurie had left, when she and Eddie were left alone outside of the restaurant.

"I dunno," he said. "That was just one time. She'll probably go right back to hatin' me once she's home."

"Maybe so, but it's a step and it brings her one step closer to not hating you. And really, what does it matter if she hates you or not?" she asked. "She's willing to give you the chance at least, so she's going to let you see the baby. Her personal feelings don't matter if she hides them. She hated me for years!"

"And that didn't bother ya?" He shook his head. "C'mon, Sal, you can't tell me it didn't. It's more than just meetin' the baby, anyway, and you know that. I don't want my daughter hatin' me anymore than you did, even if you're saying it didn't matter. Probably hurt you worse, since she's your girl more than she's mine."

Sally tried to say something to that, but she couldn't think of anything. He was right that it hurt her every time she had some sort of disagreement with Laurie, and he was right that Laurie was less his than hers. That part made her feel bad all over again, made her remember how she had pushed him away to try to save a failing marriage. Even now, she couldn't really make sense of it.

There had been reason for them not to be together, and it was easy to justify her decision back then because of that. No one would blame her for not wanting to be with him after what had happened between them, but she _had_ wanted to be with him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had an affair with him, she wouldn't have wanted to spend that time with him. There had been feelings, but those feelings had been outweighed by the fear of being found out and of having to deal with the reputation of being divorce. Of course, in the end, she had taken her eventual divorce in stride, but she couldn't have known that back then.

It was hard to decide if she had been in the right or been in the wrong to push him away, but she did truly regret that she had kept him away from Laurie for so long. And, having spent so much time with him recently, she was starting to realize that she regretted keeping herself away from him. Being with him reminded her of exactly what she had seen in him in the past, and seeing how much he carried about a daughter he hadn't ever really known and a grandchild he had yet to know, showed her more to see in him.

When she finally did speak of, it was only to say, "Do you have anywhere to be after this?"

He raised an eyebrow, confused. "No, not that I can think of. Why?"

"I thought we could spend some more time talking. Getting...caught up." She didn't know if he knew the intentions behind her words when she said them, but it also didn't take long after she got him home to subsequently get him into bed.

~X~

It didn't feel like very long before Laurie was showing or before they had the chance to find out the baby's sex. They debated whether or not they would, seeing as none of them believed it really mattered, but Laurie's curiosity eventually won out and they found out that they would be having a daughter. She passed on the news to Sally who said, "What? You couldn't already tell? I could always tell with you." Laurie suspected that that was all bullshit.

It was odd getting to see her mother so often, and ever odder getting to see Eddie that often, but she continuously found it getting harder to completely hate him. Somehow, they always managed to find something that they both thought was funny, and that eased the tension too much. She hated to think that they had a similar sense of humor, but it was plain that they did and that they were getting closer, whether she liked it or not.

"Walter's doing better," Dan said one day, coming into their room while she was busy thinking about that. He had told her about the other man's concerns regarding becoming a father and both kept the other updated.

"Is he?" she asked. "That's good. He can't be stupid enough to think he's gonna be a bad dad forever."

"Well, you can't say you're not a little nervous," Dan replied, sitting beside her on the bed. "I think all of us are."

"I am, sometimes," she said, "but I also keep thinking about...other stuff."

"Your own parents?" he asked.

She nodded. "Things are going...well with them. A little too well. Me and Eddie keep getting along over stuff, and I just don't know how I feel about that. I don't think I should get along with him over anything, but at the same time, I did promise my mother and..."

"It's like I said to you before," he said. "I know that what he did in the past was awful and there's no reason for you not to feel that way. But he wants forgiveness and does seem to have changed, and your mother forgave him. People who want to change deserve the chance to show that they mean it, right?"

"I know, and that makes sense, but it's hard when it's my own situation."

"I know it is, and you don't have to like him, but if things are going well, I just don't think there's any reason to worry about it. Let things go well and don't fight it. Maybe he isn't as bad as you think and maybe he is, but if it things go well, then just sit back and let it happen."

His advice made sense, and she knew that it did. Dan had always been the voice of reason in the house, and she knew that what he said was right. It was still hard for her to change her mind on Eddie, but she resolved to let things happen as they would, even if she really, really didn't want to get along with him.

~X~

"We're gonna have to tell Laurie about this eventually," said Sally. It had been weeks since she had first made a move on Eddie and since he had not tried to resist in the slightest and, despite all the time that had passed and despite their age, they had fallen back into things as if no time had passed. For the first few days after, they would meet up constantly and spend a lot less time talking than they spent in bed, neither one of them wanting to interrupt what was happening.

But then they both realized that they had to address it, and they both admitted to still having feelings. Eddie had never stopped loving her, he said, and she had always been the only person he had ever cared about in that way, and Sally admitted that she regretted losing him all those years ago. With those confessions out of the way, they fell into the easy pattern of their relationship, no longer having to sneak around a suspicious husband, but they still were not completely open about it.

"I know, but I don't..." He sighed. "She's finally startin' to warm up to me, and I don't want her to hate me all over again. If I'm with you, who knows what she'll think?"

"She knows that we're both adults. She got used to us being together before, she'll get used to us being together now," she replied, but she was also worried. She didn't know how Laurie would react to knowing about this, and she did worry that it would mess up whatever progress they had made. Not to mention how harshly she had judged her in the past; how harshly would she judge her now, knowing that she had gone back to Eddie once again?

"Not yet, alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, okay," she replied, pulling him into a kiss. "But how about right _now_ , we focus on some other things?"

"Always have loved the way you think," he said with a chuckle.


	4. Chapter 4

Laurie had a love-hate relationship with shopping. She didn't mind the spending money bit and she really didn't mind getting new things, but when it came to taking the time to go out and buy those things, she preferred to keep that short. Long shopping sprees were not her style at all and when she went looking for things, she liked to be right in and right out. In order to do that, she had to know what she was looking for.

It didn't take long for her to learn that shopping for a baby was not something that she could be in and out with. She never knew exactly what she was looking for and didn't really understand the difference between all the different brands when the products look identical to her, and she wondered how the hell anyone figured this out.

With everyone talking about how safety and health were so important, she'd think that products would be arranged in such a way that she could figure out exactly what was best a bit more easily, but that didn't seem to be the case. It was with great reluctance that she gave her mother a call, deciding that she would have to enlist the help of someone a bit more experienced than her.

Sally was giggling when she answered the phone and Laurie said, "Is there someone there with you?"

"What?" she asked. "No, of course not. Why would you even ask?"

"Because you were laughing at something. Do you have somebody over?" Laurie couldn't think of anyone her mother would have over, which only made it all the more suspicious.

"No, nobody here. I was just watching something on TV, that's all." Again, Sally giggled, and there was something off about her voice. Laurie wanted to say that she was lying, but that wasn't really something she could just come out and accuse her mother of.

"What are you watching?"

"Just...something." She sighed. "Come on, Laurel, I know you called to discuss something other than television. What do you want?"  
"I need help with something. Shopping for baby stuff, I mean." It was pained her to admit that she needed her mother's help with anything.

"You mean right now?" Sally sounded bored, almost irritated. "Because I really don't know if I'd even be any help."

"Well, I just...you know, I don't know what's good to buy. I was hoping you could help me with that." Laurie was getting frustrated and regretted making this call at all. What had her mother so distracted?

"I don't know, I had you a long time ago," she replied. "Things are probably different now, and I never knew what to get back then. I just sort of winged it with you, you know."

Sally was absolutely no help and seemed eager to get back to whatever she had been watching. She offered to meet up with Laurie later in the week to see if they could put their heads together, but the idea of shopping with her mother had become even less appealing than before and, in the end, Dan did extensive research and was the one to do the majority of the shopping.

~X~

Preparations for the baby never seemed to stop and the closer they got to her due date, the more there seemed to be to do. Walter didn't understand how more tasks could keep coming up, but he didn't bother questioning them when he had so much to get done. He simply did as he was told, following whatever instructions were given to him as they made the house "baby-safe" and as he helped paint and decorate their daughter's future bedroom.

Laurie had insisted time and again that there would be no yellow in her baby's room, and went on about how red was her favorite color and her mother's house was all yellow, and a bunch of other nonsense as if the color mattered, but when they looked at paint samples, she decided that butter cream yellow would be the perfect color for the walls. When she was questioned about this, all she said was, "Well, red isn't a good color for a baby room anyway."

Walter was hanging picture frames on those yellow walls, which he and Dan had just finished painting a few days before, when he heard Laurie scream from the other room. He nearly dropped the frame before he went to see what the hell was wrong with her, only to see her with a panicked expression, nothing visibly wrong with her.

"I think my water broke!" she shouted. "It did, I swear it did!"

This had not been what he had expected to have to deal with when he woke up that morning and, to make matters worse, Dan wasn't home. It was just him and Laurie, and he struggled to remember what they had discussed for when this day eventually came. Dan had packed a bag, ever the prepared one, ever the responsible one and he had all the numbers they would need written down by the phone, just in case the excitement caused one of them to forget a number they normally knew by heart.

"Get your bag," said Walter, trying to take control of the situation as best he could. "I'll call Dan."

"Call my mother too," replied Laurie as she ran to their bedroom in search of the bag. "I know she wants to be there."

He had never spoken directly to Laurie's mother, finding Sally's loud personality to be rather intimidating. Figuring he was going to have enough difficult things to deal with already, he dialed Dan and said, "Laurie's water broke and we're going to the hospital. Can you call her mother for me?"

"Wait, wait, you mean she's...the baby's coming right now?" Dan sounded surprisingly less calm than Walter had expected and he realized for the first time just how calm he must sound in comparison, despite the fact that he was internally panicking.

"We're about to leave for the hospital," he replied. "Please make sure you call her mother."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, just...see you guys there!"

~X~

They weren't sure how he managed it, but Dan arrived seconds after they did. Laurie was rushed into a delivery room to begin the very long process with her lovers at her side. When Sally arrived, with Eddie in tow, Laurie was told that she could have her mother in the room with her as well. Through the pain, she was able to look up and say, "There's no way in hell." The nurse that delivered the news to Sally toned it down quite a bit, explaining something about the room being too crowded for anyone else.

So Sally waited outside with Eddie, the latter more nervous that she was, to the point that she openly laughed at him a few times because it was all so unlike him. "She'll be fine, you know. I had no trouble having her, and she's gonna have no trouble with this one."

"Well, s'not like I was there to make sure things were okay. I was worried about you too, ya know. Just didn't know when it was happenin', so I got to be worried full time." He chuckled, shaking his head.

She felt another pang of guilt for what she had denied him, but she shoved that aside. There was nothing that could be done about the past, but things were different now, and she was doing the best she could. After a rather long wait, they finally received the news that their granddaughter had safely been delivered and that they could go into see her.

There was no mistaking the father of the child. She hardly had any hair, but what she did was a coppery red that was so similar to Walter's that there was no way it had come from Laurie's relation to Sally. But her eyes were Laurie's just as Laurie's were Sally's, and it would have been plain to anyone who the parents in the room were. Dan looked at the baby with so much love, however, that it didn't matter and no one had to say who biologically had the baby; as the three parents looked on her with love and pride, it was all the more clear that the baby was each of their child.

Sally never considered herself particularly sentimental, but there was no denying that she loved her daughter above all else and she had to blink back tears when she saw Laurie holding a daughter of her own. Her family situation would be unconventional, but was that really so bad? Laurie had turned out fine without a loving father in her life, and this child would have two. And while Dan looked at the baby with a lot of love, the look on Walter's face was one of absolute awe. There was no doubt in her mind that her granddaughter had the two most loving fathers a girl could ask for.

But it was hard to pick what the most touching thing in the room was. There were the fathers, there was the happy mother who looked exhausted but overjoyed, and then there was Eddie, who looked stunned by the scene in front of him. She would have taken his hand if it wouldn't have made their situation a little more obvious to those in the room. Instead, she gave him a smile, and wondered how he would have been meeting baby Laurie for the first time.

"So, Mom," she said, as if reading Sally's mind about not wanting to hold his hand in front of everyone, "I was wondering why you two showed up together?"


	5. Chapter 5

The silence that followed Laurie's question was tense, but then Sally let out a very theatrical, very obnoxious laugh. "What kind of question is that?" she asked. "I mean, I called him when Dan called me, and he gave me a ride. Obviously!"

Her voice was painfully unconvincing, but her gigantic horselaugh did not help matters in the slightest.

~X~

The name they had settled on for the little girl was Bella, after one of Laurie's aunts, and she took Laurie's middle name. A last name was more complicated, considering the three of them all had different last names, so they kept it Juspeczyk for the time being. Despite her being all of their daughter, the entirety of her name was taken from something to do with Laurie, who found all of that absolutely hilarious.

She was absolutely exhausted from labor, so she couldn't say she minded too much when they had to take Bella to the nursery. Her maternal instincts, which had kicked in quite suddenly, didn't want her to let the baby go, but her need to sleep made a good argument and she was soon out like a light. As soon as she was asleep, Walter made his excuses and left the room; when Dan wanted to find him later, he found him exactly where he expected to, staring into the nursery window.

And then Dan found that he couldn't leave either and simply stood next to Walter, looking in at their daughter. At some point, the two linked hands, but he wasn't sure who had initiated or when it had really happened. Even when Bella was only sleeping, they didn't want to go anywhere and didn't mind watching her, as if she were the only thing in the world.

~X~

When Laurie woke up, it was only Sally in the room. "Where's the guys?" she asked, groggy.

"They were gone when I got back here," replied Sally with a shrug. "Probably looking at the baby. Now that you're awake they might let her come back in here with you."

Laurie didn't realize how much she wanted that until it was said. Before that day, holding her own child hadn't been a possibility, but now she felt like it was something she absolutely needed to do. It was funny how quickly things changed. "Are all three of them down there?" she asked. "Did Eddie go with them?"

"Hm?" There was that guilty face again. "No, he went out for a bit, to pick some stuff up. No one's eaten much today, so...and he didn't want to be in the way."

"I know you're fucking him, you know." Sally's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but did not say anything. Laurie continued, "I appreciate the fact that you think you're being secretive, but it wasn't hard to figure it out."

"Laurie...I wasn't...I wasn't trying to keep it a secret from you for no reason," she said. "I was going to tell you sooner, but Eddie was afraid...you two were just starting to get along, and he thought a relationship between the two of us might be too much to take in on top of everything else."

"I wouldn't get mad at you for it, I don't think," replied Laurie. "I understand why you didn't want to tell me, but you're both adults. It's always been hard for me to understand why you went back to him the first time, but it was your choice then and it's your choice now. I know you don't understand why I need both Dan and Walter, but I can't even imagine not being with them. And as much as I hate to admit it, Eddie's not... _that_ bad. If he's who you want, then he's who you want."

It was barely a stamp of approval and Laurie didn't think Sally would need her approval anyway, but she still looked relieved to hear it. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for giving him a chance and thank you for understanding about all of this."

They were quiet after that, until a nurse came in and offered to bring the baby back to Laurie, and when she did, Walter and Dan followed behind. Eddie returned with food not long after that, but Sally ushered him into the hallway to give the parents some time alone.

~X~

When they left the hospital that night, they went back to Sally's home together- Eddie had been staying there a lot recently. "Laurie knows about us," she said. "She figured us out."

"And?" He tried to look like he wasn't concerned, but he failed.

"She's not upset about it. She says she understands." Sally smirked at him. "She even said you weren't that bad."

"Did she?" He chuckled, but there was a pleased look in his eyes. "Well, I'd say that's a pretty high compliment coming from her."

"Our entire family situation is pretty fucked up," she said. "When you think about how we got together, and what she's living in. But it isn't bad at all, is it?"

"No, I don't think it is."

~X~

It wasn't long before Laurie and Bella were allowed to go home for good. Bella was not very fussy for a newborn, and seemed to have no issues adjusting to her new home. The four were all happy to be home together, and though Laurie was still exhausted, she was less keen on sleeping than she had been in the hospital, wanting to spend as much time with the baby as she could.

Dan made a fuss over everything and hurriedly finished the small tasks that had remained to be done in the baby's room, interrupted by her going into labor. He was constantly back and forth between working on that and cooing over his daughter, not able to focus on just one for long, knowing that he had to get the work done but never wanting to stay away from Bella for long.

Walter had yet to hold her, though. Things had been busy in the hospital and Laurie had hardly noticed, but now that they were home, it became very apparent to her that, while she sat with the baby and Dan came along every now and then for a few minutes with her before getting back to work, Walter only sat and watched. He rarely left their side, but he never so much as asked if he could hold her- not that he needed to _ask_ , but he seemed like the type to ask to hold his own child.

Finally, Laurie got fed up with wondering what his deal was and said, "Are you gonna hold her or not?"

He looked up at her, looking almost afraid and she resisted the urge to laugh. "I don't know," he said.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" she asked. "Why would you not want to?"

Walter shook his head. "Not that. I don't know how to...don't want to hurt her."

She opened her mouth to ask him how he didn't know how to hold a baby, but she stopped herself. Of course he didn't; she knew things had been difficult for him, she knew that there had been things he went through that she still didn't know and couldn't understand. It was not so hard to believe that he hadn't had baby cousins to hold growing up, that he hadn't learned the specific way to hold a newborn's neck to give them support, hadn't learned to avoid their soft spot, hadn't learned to keep them close because they couldn't recognize you from a certain distance.

"Then let me show you," she replied, and though he tried to protest, she wouldn't have it. "This is your daughter," she said, and she meant it in the way that they said she was all of their daughter, but there was something in her voice that she hoped communicated to him that, in terms of appearance, no one would think twice about who the father was, that this was his flesh and blood.

He nodded, and he took Bella just the way Laurie showed him, and he held her like she was the most fragile and precious thing in the world.

~X~

When Dan came back again, he saw them like that, their heads together while Walter held Bella. They looked like the perfect picture of a family, the baby a balance of both of their features, the two of them looking like proud parents. The three of them could have been a family all on their own; they could have been there without Dan at all, and he could have felt a pang of jealously looking at them.

But he didn't, because he knew that they couldn't. Biologically, yes, but emotionally, their family was not complete without him. He had brought the two of them together and held them together, and he loved the both of them and they loved him just as much as they had come to love each other. If three was a crowd, then he was happy to be a part of that crowd and he was more than happy to bring a fourth in, and rather than watching them from afar, he went to join his family on the couch.


End file.
